A new group has formed to take concerns over abuses in guardianship systems across the country to the Presidential campaign. The issues of most concern to senior citizens have not received much attention in the current Presidential nomination races. Candidates have discussed the high cost of prescription drugs, but there has been little discussion of [...]

On March 31, 2016 the first IRS Forms 8971 are due. These new forms which were designed as a way to close an estate tax loophole have caused some confusion for professionals and beneficiaries. The recently released guidance is not helping matters very much. On the surface the desire to close an estate tax loophole [...]

Family business owners often fear that a child’s spouse will get part ownership of the business after a divorce. As one New York family is learning, employing tricks to avoid that from happening can lead to bigger headaches. John’s Pizzeria is an institution in New York with locations all over the area. When owner Madeline [...]

Most pet owners want to make sure their pets are taken care of after the owner passes away. Many have informal plans about how that should be done, but it is much better to make those plans official. It is very common to for pet owners to arrange for a friend or family member to [...]

If you own stock, then it is important to make sure that it is appropriately transferred after you pass away. Fortunately, the process can be fairly simple. Like any other form of property, stocks have their own transfer rules. What happens to them after the owner passes away is determined by those rules. In the [...]

A new study by UCLA found that charges to Medicare were significantly inflated and that payment patterns are problematic. Health care providers can charge Medicare whatever they want to charge. That does not mean Medicare will pay the charges as Medicare will only pay a set amount for each procedure. Despite Medicare's policy, a study [...]

If you want someone else to have access to your digital accounts after you pass away, then you will need to go through specific processes for each account that you have. Many state legislatures are attempting to streamline the law concerning access to digital accounts after the owner passes away. Some have managed to pass [...]

A new report from the AARP details that the medications commonly used by the elderly are increasing in price well past the rate of inflation. Calling the 2016 Presidential election messy or contentious is probably too charitable. For all the bluster and the personal insults, however, there are some serious issues being discussed. One thing [...]

The U.S. government has released the will of terrorist Osama Bin Laden. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence has recently released some documents that were seized during the raid on Osama Bin Laden's compound. Much of the media focus has centered on some of the personal letters released that appear to warn followers [...]

State governments across the country have taken up what happens to a person's digital accounts after they die. Wisconsin is the latest state to do so. The digital age has created changes for people in many aspects of life. This is certainly the case in estate planning, as estate laws were designed in a time [...]